


What's To Be Said

by sexybee



Category: Clover (Manga)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-19
Updated: 2006-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 04:16:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1631063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sexybee/pseuds/sexybee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bird in a cage / A bird without wings / A bird without voice / A lonely bird</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's To Be Said

**Author's Note:**

> Clover belongs to the ladies of CLAMP. Much credit goes to Andrew Lang's "Rose Fairy Book" for inspiration and proper fairy tale wording. If the line about story endings isn't based off Terry Pratchett, it should be. Thanks to Franzi for the beta, to the folks on IRC for support, and to my boyfriend for the chocolate. I couldn't have done this without them.
> 
> Written for Ji

 

 

 

_"Sometimes fairy stories may say best what's to be said." -G.K. Chesterton_

* * *

The little girl sat on the second highest branch of the rowan tree, a faded blue book with worn covers in her lap. As she sat, she hummed a quiet, haunting tune, and occasionally flipped a page.

"What are you reading, Sue?" Cat asked from below her as he cleared away the plates and saucers from lunch.

"Made up things." She paused to watch the birds fly by the window, the sun reflecting silver off their wings. "Would you like me to read you one?"

"Oh, yes," exclaimed Cat. Dog nodded as well and set aside the tea tray. They settled down at the table and stared eagerly up at Sue in the tree.

Sue flipped the book back to the beginning. She said, "This is my favorite story. Listen:"

 

> Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen who loved each other madly and would have been perfectly happy if the king had only had a little son or daughter to pass his crown down to. Unfortunately, the queen had never been able to conceive, and now the time had passed when she would be able to. The king never mentioned it and always insisted there was nothing in the world he could wish to change in his wife, but sometimes, when he looked at other people's children, his face grew sad, and the queen knew why.
> 
> One day, after the king had been watching the bootboys and scullery maids playing tag in a disused hallway, he walked out to his courtyard at sat down near the fountain. On the tiled ledge of the basin, a crab was sunning itself. "Little crab," he said, "how I wish I could have a child of my own to cheer me in my sorrow and fill my heart with laughter and joy through the years. I would give anything for that to happen."
> 
> "Oh king," said a small voice, "if I could grant your wish would you give me the forest on the southern border of your land for my home?" The king looked down, and saw that it was the crab speaking to him. He quickly realized that the crab must actually be a fairy-for in that time fairies were much more common than they are now and would often amuse themselves by appearing in disguise as ordinary people or animals.
> 
> Of course the king was quick to assent to the bargain. So, shedding her disguise, the crab fairy appeared before the king as an old woman smartly dressed in white and crimson with green ribbons in her gray hair. She bent down and touched her wand to one of the gentle white doves that populated the queen's courtyard, and where the bird had been lay a baby-a girl child with hair as pale as the dove's plumage had been and eyes as green as the ribbons in the fairy's hair.
> 
> But alas! The granting of his dearest wish filled the old king's heart with such overwhelming joy that it could not contain the emotion, and burst. The queen, hearing her husband's joyous cry, rushed out from the palace, only to find the king dead and a strange-eyed, quiet baby beside him. So great was her grief then that the queen, a sorceress of no small power, called down a deadly curse upon the child.
> 
> The poor crab fairy tried her best to protect the baby, but unfortunately, she was only able to transmute the spell: should ever the child fall in love, she would die.
> 
> So the crab fairy gathered up the baby and took her to the middle of a deep forest. There she built a splendid palace of glass and precious stones, which she filled with every possible delight to be found. There were rooms filled with toys, and rooms with books, and rooms that contained tall trees and wide, babbling rills. She enchanted the woodland creatures to serve as servants and playmates for the girl so that she would never want for anything. But the only visitors to the forest-indeed the only ones who knew the palace existed-were the fairies.
> 
> And so the girl grew up. Never was there a childhood such as hers before. From the forest animals that were her companions she learned the secret names of all the trees and bushes and the language of the birds' trills and the hares' frenzied thumping. From the fairies, who loved to amuse her with gay tricks and festivities, she learned songs and dances from countries near and far. All day long she would climb the trees in her enchanted palace, whose tops were so high they seemed to scrape the sky, or she would swim in the babbling brook that fell in enchanting sprays or swirled in cunning pools that changed every day. At night or on cloudy days, she would immerse herself in the rare, wondrous books the crab fairy left for her. But although she often read about them, she still had never met another human.
> 
> Everything progressed accordingly until the princess's fourteenth year. She had grown into a remarkable young woman-more knowledgeable in exotic lore than most royal advisors, fairer and more gentle than the prized white does that grazed in the forest. She did not feel a lack of human companionship because she had never known such. All she knew was her glass palace, her animal servants, and the ephemeral fairies.
> 
> Now, in the kingdom east of the forest there lived a beautiful young woman named Rose. She had grown up on a small farm in the kingdom east of the forest. Although her family was very poor, she was happy with her life, for she loved her farm and her family and the songs about them that she would sing as she tended the animals. Then one day, as she was singing about the sheep grazing on the meadow and the way the sun fell on the distant hills, a handsome stranger rode into view. His name was Drake, and he was a knight from a far-off distant land passing through on a quest. He heard her singing, floating on the summer breeze like a whisper from heaven, and tracked it to its source. They soon fell in love.
> 
> While Rose was happier than ever before, she was also saddened because she knew that she would soon leave her home and all that she had ever known. Sir Drake had to return to his homeland to complete his quest, but he pledged to come back for her as soon as he was able.
> 
> Now, everyone knows that a woman in love is ten times more beautiful than she ever was before, and in her love for Drake, Rose became radiant. As her beauty grew, so too did her singing, for now, when she sang of love, she sang with a heart overflowing in joy and sadness. Soon, her fame had spread far beyond her little farm to the palaces of the king. The king, whose wife had died several years ago, bid her to appear before him and sing at the royal court. There, he was so captivated by her beauty and her voice that he immediately announced their engagement. To all of Rose's pleadings and refusals, he only answered that she would grow to love him in time.
> 
> So Rose decided to escape. Because she knew that kings do not take kindly to being thwarted, she headed for the enchanted forest that separated her kingdom from the neighboring land. Everyone knew that fairies dwelt there and were likely to curse a man for violating their domain, but Rose hoped that if she pled her case to them, they would spare her.
> 
> Thus, as Rose wandered through the forest, singing to keep her spirits up, she came across the princess's glass castle. The princess was sitting in her favorite spot among the lofty branches when she heard the high, sweet voice, and she naturally assumed it was a new fairy come to visit. Rose's appearance--dressed in silken court finery and with her long, shining tresses and fair face--certainly did nothing to dissuade the princess of the notion. The princess leaned down from her perch. "What's that song? I've never heard it before."
> 
> Rose stepped back, startled. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
> 
> And so the princess learned that Rose was not a fairy, for all the fairies knew of the crab fairy's glass palace in the forest. "I don't have a name," she said as she climbed down to the ground. "I've never needed one before; I'm the only human here." She added wistfully, "Will you please teach me your song? It's so pretty."
> 
> Rose, who had been charmed by the princess's innocent manner, answered warmly. "Of course." She frowned slightly. "No name? Then I shall call you Lark, because you reminded me of a little bird sitting up there in your tree. And my name is Rose. Now that we have been introduced, can I ask you why you live here all alone?"
> 
> So the princess, who was delighted to now have a name of her own, told Rose her story, of the tragedy of her birth and the crab fairy's efforts to save her. When she had finished Rose cried out, feelingly, "Oh you poor thing. If only I could take you with me, for I am escaping too." And she told Lark her story.
> 
> "And so," she concluded, "you can imagine that when I saw you perched up in that tree, pale and pretty as you are, I thought you must be one of the fairies who guarded this forest. But I am glad that you are not, for I don't believe there could be any fairy quite half so sweet as you, Lark!"
> 
> Lark was touched by that, because she had never had a real friend before, and she told Rose this. "I wish there was some way you could come in and visit me," she said, leaning against the glass wall.
> 
> "You mean you can't leave there?" Rose asked.
> 
> "Oh no," Lark said earnestly. "I would die if I left the castle. The crab fairy told me so."
> 
> Rose's eyes grew sad. She placed her palm against Lark's so that only the glass separated them. "Don't you see? You're just as trapped as I was by the king." She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the pane. "Everyone dies. That's what it means to be human. Even if you stay here in your castle, you'll still die one day." She opened her eyes and caught Lark's intent gaze with her own. "But I'd rather be free to love-and die-as I wish. Love. Happiness. It's the only reason worth dying for."
> 
> Just then there was a rustle, as of someone tramping through the forest on the other side of the clearing. "Is that the king's guards?" Lark asked, her breath quick and green eyes huge in fear. Rose jerked upright and clenched her hands, glancing around desperately for shelter or defense. "I wish there was some way I could protect you," Lark cried, agonized, as the noises grew closer.
> 
> Then, abruptly, a tall, dark-haired, handsome man crashed through the ring of trees, and stopped in his tracks. "Rose?" he asked disbelievingly. "Is that really you?"
> 
> "Drake!" she cried out. Her eyes lit up and he burst into a wide smile. She lifted her heavy silk skirts and ran toward him. They embraced frantically, and watching them, Lark felt as if she began to understand the words that Rose had spoken. Her chest ached with the first glimmerings of love in her heart.
> 
> Drake lifted up Rose's face to gaze at her adoringly. As he did so, over his shoulder, Rose saw an archer in the blue and white of the king's guards at the edge of the clearing. Before Rose could draw breath to warn Drake, the archer released his arrow. So she did the only thing she could.
> 
> Rose shoved Drake as hard as she could to the ground and out of the way. But alas! The fatal missile, which had been intended for Drake, now struck Rose. Its blue and white fletching buried itself in her chest as inexorably as fate. Drake jumped to his feet and drew his sword, but Rose stopped him with a hand around his ankle.
> 
> Drake sank to his knees beside her. She smiled up at him through the pain, still as beautiful as ever, and touched his cheek hesitantly. "Love," she whispered and was gone.
> 
> Watching Drake kneel over Rose's body, Lark felt again the tight aching in her chest, and she knew what she needed to do. "Sir Drake," she called.
> 
> He looked up, and though his eyes widened slightly at the sight of Lark in her glass palace, he did not falter. "Yes?" he asked.
> 
> "Will you please release me from here?" she asked.
> 
> He got to his feet and reversed his grip on the sword's grip so he could dash the pommel against the castle wall. "Who are you?" he asked, as the glass shattered and scattered like diamond dust on the grass.
> 
> Lark smiled sadly. "I'm Rose's friend." The glass pricked her bare feet as she stepped forward. "I'm called Lark." She moved up to the edge of the opening he had made and looked up into his puzzled, sorrowful eyes. "And," she finished, "I'm free." Lark closed her eyes and stepped forward out of the castle.

Sue shut the book with a bang, startling Cat and Dog below. "Is that it?" Cat hesitantly asked.

"I thought all fairy tales had happy endings," Dog said.

"All stories end the same way," Sue replied absently. "The trick is to stop reading before you get to the end."

"What happened to the princess?" Cat asked. "What happened to Lark?'

Sue cocked her head as she watched a bird fluttering slowly down onto the branch next to hers. "Oh, she turned back into a dove and flew away. Somewhere far from here." She whispered to herself, "A place where wings are not enough..."

"Well," Cat said, in as dubious a tone as its programmed to politeness voice would allow, "it was a very nice story."

"Yes," replied Dog. "You'll have to read us another one someday."

"Someday," agreed Sue. She spread her wings and launched herself into the air to hover next to the bank of windows and watch the sun set. Behind her, the blank pages of the book fluttered over softly in the wake of her passage.

 


End file.
